Thursday, June 25, 2015

The harassment of the Al-Midan Theater stems from envy of our subjects' ability to overcome oppression, to think and create, in defiance of our image of them as inferior.

By Amira Hass | Jun. 22, 2015

In our homes, our streets and our places of work and entertainment, there are thousands of people who killed and tortured thousands of other people or supervised their killing and torture. I write "thousands" as a substitute for the vaguer "countless" – an expression for something that cannot be measured.

Have you ever heard of the journalist J. M. N. Jeffries? Me neither. Before stating who he was, let me provide an analogy; he was the Amira Hass of the UK, speaking truth to power (and speaking truth to lies, many lies), just like Amira today! He reported from ground zero in Palestine and did not shy away from calling reality as he witnessed it.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Last week I gave a talk to a group of Jewish students from the U.S. who came to Ramallah by way of a group called EXTEND Tours. One of the students, an astute female student, asked me when I was done, "Do you call what Israel is doing Apartheid." In answering, I said I do, but in reference to the Crime of Apartheid and not necessarily the South African version of Apartheid. I went on to say, however, I try not to throw the word around in vain and prefer to explain what reality looks like on the ground and let people reach their own conclusions, especially Jews given this is all being done to us (and them) in their name. In the spirit of my answer, I share this latest development from the invisible part of the Israeli military occupation. ~Sam Bahour

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+972 Magazine

Published June 12, 2015

High Court: Palestinians have no planning rights

By Haggai MatarBy rejecting a petition by Palestinian residents of Area C, Israel's High Court of Justice effectively cemented two separate planning regimes on the same plot of land: one for Jews, another for Palestinians.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

"The Palestinian leadership has returned to the venue of the United Nations and the international community to rebound from the failed Oslo peace process. They have embarked on getting third states to recognize the State of Palestine, while at the same time using the newly-acquired toolbox of statehood to hold Israel accountable for its continued military occupation. Is this high-profile international effort a negotiating tactic to better their hand at the negotiating table or a totally new strategy to gain freedom and independence?" – Sam Bahour

Monday, June 08, 2015

"A two-state solution provides by far the best economic outcomes for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis would gain over three times more than the Palestinians in absolute terms — $123 billion versus $50 billion over ten years."

June 8, 2015

The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Abstract

For much of the past century, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has been a defining feature of the Middle East. Despite billions of dollars expended to support, oppose, or seek to resolve it, the conflict has endured for decades, with periodic violent eruptions, of which the Israel-Gaza confrontation in the summer of 2014 is only the most recent.

This study estimates the net costs and benefits over the next ten years of five alternative trajectories — a two-state solution, coordinated unilateral withdrawal, uncoordinated unilateral withdrawal, nonviolent resistance, and violent uprising — compared with the costs and benefits of a continuing impasse that evolves in accordance with present trends. The analysis focuses on economic costs related to the conflict, including the economic costs of security. In addition, intangible costs are briefly examined, and the costs of each scenario to the international community have been calculated.

The study's focus emerged from an extensive scoping exercise designed to identify how RAND's objective, fact-based approach might promote fruitful policy discussion. The overarching goal is to give all parties comprehensive, reliable information about available choices and their expected costs and consequences.

Seven key findings were identified: A two-state solution provides by far the best economic outcomes for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis would gain over three times more than the Palestinians in absolute terms — $123 billion versus $50 billion over ten years. But the Palestinians would gain more proportionately, with average per capita income increasing by approximately 36 percent over what it would have been in 2024, versus 5 percent for the average Israeli. A return to violence would have profoundly negative economic consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis; per capita gross domestic product would fall by 46 percent in the West Bank and Gaza and by 10 percent in Israel by 2024. In most scenarios, the value of economic opportunities gained or lost by both parties is much larger than expected changes in direct costs. Unilateral withdrawal by Israel from the West Bank would impose large economic costs on Israelis unless the international community shoulders a substantial portion of the costs of relocating settlers. Intangible factors, such as each party's security and sovereignty aspirations, are critical considerations in understanding and resolving the impasse. Taking advantage of the economic opportunities of a two-state solution would require substantial investments from the public and private sectors of the international community and from both parties.

Key Findings

Results of Economic Analysis of the Five Scenarios

A two-state solution provides by far the best economic outcomes for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis would gain over three times more than the Palestinians in absolute terms — $123 billion versus $50 billion over ten years.

But the Palestinians would gain more proportionately, with average per capita income increasing by approximately 36 percent over what it would have been in 2024, versus 5 percent for the average Israeli.

A return to violence would have profoundly negative economic consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis; per capita gross domestic product would fall by 46 percent in the West Bank and Gaza and by 10 percent in Israel by 2024.

In most scenarios, the value of economic opportunities gained or lost by both parties is much larger than expected changes in direct costs.

Unilateral withdrawal by Israel from the West Bank would impose large economic costs on Israelis unless the international community shoulders a substantial portion of the costs of relocating settlers.

Intangible factors, such as each party's security and sovereignty aspirations, are critical considerations in understanding and resolving the impasse.

Taking advantage of the economic opportunities of a two-state solution would require substantial investments from the public and private sectors of the international community and from both parties.

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

First, I point you to a post I made on Facebook about a book I just read, Hidden Histories, by Basem Ra'ad. It's worth checking out, but as my post notes, you have been forewarned.

Second, I'd like to share this interesting article from The Times of Israelfrom 2013 which is indicative of something we are seeing today. Recently, various Israeli figures are, unexpectedly, waking up; and the trend, while still painfully gradual, seems to be gaining momentum after the outcome of the recent Israeli elections and Israeli cabinet makeup. Many who have started to see the light are fearful to make their views publicly known for fear of being isolated in their own communities, but if you watch closely you can see a shift happening, even in the Israeli military, like the recent work of the Israeli group Breaking the Silence has shown.

Thank you Bibi for bringing clarity to the reality we have been bleeding from for 67 years.

Regarding the below article, it is slightly delusional to think that the project of Zionism could have resulted in anything different than what Israel has turned into, but nevertheless. Can you imagine if he could bring himself to view Palestinians in Gaza as human beings, or better yet, the Palestinian refugees (which happens to be 60% of the Gaza Strip) his country refuses to let return back home? What would that add to his analysis?!

Ahh, OK, where do I pick up my Israeli National Insurance Card? And I want some of that free education and subsidized transportation too.

If Obama intends to ignore the looming 'apartheid cliff' on his visit, he'd be better off staying home, adds Alon Liel, who also served as Israel's envoy to Pretoria

By Raphael Ahren February 21, 2013

Alon Liel served as the Foreign Ministry's director-general from November 2000 until April 2001. Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal is accusing Liel of treason for his encouraging Palestinian statehood recognition. (photo credit: courtesy)

As long as there is no Palestinian state and Israel rules over the West Bank, Israel is a de facto apartheid state, a former top Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday, using a highly contentious term usually employed only by radical anti-Israel activists.

Alon Liel, a former Foreign Ministry director-general and ex-ambassador to South Africa, also called on President Barack Obama to stay home if he didn't intend to warn Israelis about the dangers of an approaching "apartheid cliff."

"In the situation that exists today, until a Palestinian state is created, we are actually one state. This joint state — in the hope that the status quo is temporary — is an apartheid state," Liel said at a Jerusalem conference about whether Israel is or could become an apartheid state.

"As someone who knows the original apartheid well, and also knows the State of Israel quite well — I was born here, grew up here, served and fought for it for 30 years — someone like me knows that Zionism isn't apartheid and the State of Israel that I grew up in wasn't an apartheid state," Liel emphasized.

"I'm here today because I came to the conclusion that the occupation of the West Bank as it exists today is a sort of Israeli apartheid," said Liel. "The occupation became a hump on the back of Zionism; it has now become the hump of the State of Israel."

There is a real danger of Israel's occupation of the West Bank becoming an integral part of the state, he said. "When that happens, when the West Bank and [Israel in the pre-1967 lines] become one, and the Palestinian residents of the West Bank will not have citizenship — we're apartheid," he said.

Similarities between the "original apartheid" as it was practiced in South Africa and the situation in Israel and the West Bank today "scream to the heavens," added Liel, who was Israel's ambassador in Pretoria from 1992 to 1994. There can be little doubt that the suffering of Palestinians is not less intense than that of blacks during apartheid-era South Africa, he asserted.

Addressing Obama's upcoming Middle East visit, Liel said that just as Americans feared the so-called fiscal cliff a few months ago, they and Israelis should be aware of an Israeli apartheid cliff.

"If you, President Obama, intend to come here for a courtesy visit — don't come. Don't come! We don't need you here for a courtesy visit," Liel said. "You cannot come to an area that exhibits signs of apartheid and ignore them. That would simply be an unethical visit. You yourself know full well that Israel is standing at the apartheid cliff. If you don't deal with this topic during your visit, the responsibility will at the end of the process also lie with you."

Wednesday's remarks were not the first time that Liel — who served as the ministry's director-general from November 2000 to April 2001 — has condemned Israel's policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Last summer, he told The Times of Israel that he supports cultural boycotts of Israel and that he himself started boycotting goods produced in the West Bank three years ago to protest the lack of progress in the peace negotiations.

~ Raphael Ahren is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.

Sam Bahour - Photo

About Me

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American based in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine and is managing partner of Applied Information Management (AIM), which specializes in business development with a niche focus on start-ups and providing executive counsel.
Bahour was instrumental in the establishment of two publicly traded firms: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Center. He is currently an independent director at the Arab Islamic Bank, advisory board member of the Open Society Foundations’ Arab Regional Office, and completed a full term as a Board of Trustees member and treasurer at Birzeit University. In addition to his presidential appointment to serve as a general assembly member of the Palestine Investment Fund, Palestine’s $1B sovereign wealth fund, Bahour serves in various capacities in several community organizations, including co-founder and chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy, board member of Just Vision in New York, board member and policy adviser at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and secretariat member of the Palestine Strategy Group.